Mercedes is taking a somewhat conservative approach in terms of its tyre selections for the forthcoming Belgian and Italian Grands Prix.

For the race at Spa-Francorchamps the world champions are taking just six sets of the softest compound available, the supersoft. This compares with Ferrari who take 7 sets, as does Max Verstappen.

Williams takes the most sets (9) of the red-banded rubber while McLaren is taking just four.

The Woking outfit takes a similar amount of mediums, while Mercedes takes three, with Kimi Raikkonen, Verstappen and McLaren leading the way in terms of softs, all taking 5 sets apiece.

Tyre choice this year is a step harder than 2017 when the soft, supersoft and ultras were used, and have in fact reverted to the three choices available in 2016.

Last year's race was won by Lewis Hamilton, who used a two-stop strategy, starting on the ultrasofts before tow further stints on softs.

For Monza, only Verstappen and the McLaren pair - who all take 7 sets - are taking less supersofts than Mercedes, while Ferrari, Force India and Sauber take the full complement of ten sets.

The Mercedes pair differ in the choice of softs, Hamilton taking three and Valtteri Bottas four, while Verstappen takes five sets of the yellow-banded tyres and Sebastian Vettel and Marcus Ericsson just one.

The tyre choices for Monza are the same as they were in 2016 and 2017, Hamilton winning last year's race on a one-stop strategy which saw him start on the supersofts before switching to the softs.